Food for Thought

"Find ways to feed us."

Writer: Nick Briggs
Format: Comic Strip
Released: September-November 1994
Printed in: DWM 218-220

Featuring: First Doctor, Polly, Ben

Synopsis

The First Doctor, Polly and Ben enter a deserted city with a gigantic intruder - one that wants to consume their minds! Having already digested the TARDIS, the Doctor is helpless and it seems that the Mollusi is still hungry...

Verdict

Food for Thought was a good comic strip adventure but despite a high rating, I can't help but be a little frustrated by it! It was so close to being so much better which was a shame but things cannot be helped. I was intrigued to find Nicholas Briggs (I'm going to safely assume it's the same famed audio writer) penning a comic strip story but I thought he did a superb job in capturing the likeness of William Hartnell. I was hugely impressed with the characterisation of the First Doctor and I really do think it was a big factor in why this adventure maintained a high rating. I also thought the writing of both Polly and Ben was good and I loved that we got an extra adventure with this underrated and short-stayed TARDIS trio. They work brilliantly together and that remained the case on the page here. I was a little bit shocked by Polly being described as the Doctor's 'swinging sixties fashion accessory.' That didn't set well with me at all I have to say. Maybe this was what Steven Moffat read prior to his writing of Twice Upon a Time? The TARDIS being literally eaten by the Mollusi was really unexpected and it obviously left the Doctor in a bit of a predicament but he didn't seem worried in the slightest. His plan seemed to just be to wait for it to come out of the other side. He knew the TARDIS wouldn't be broken down by digestive enzymes or anything so his plan was patience. But there was something else going on here though and it all centred around Melthorpe. He had been subjected to the mental powers of the Mollusi long ago and he was being used to feed them. He was actually in charge of a rather horrifying food production service and that entailed the peoples of Apresar IV becoming food for the Mollusi. The Doctor was himself consumed and I found the panels with him inside the Mollusi rather humorous. He was delightful as you'd expect but his mental powers were strong and he would not subject himself to its will to feed them. The cliffhangers were both good but the one thing that let down this comic strip for me was the abrupt ending. The penultimate page would have actually served as a fantastic cliffhanger with Ben revealing that the Mollusi young had actually grown up but one of them just being filled with Melthorpe's discontent and hatred and leaving things there seemed a bit incomplete. I needed more clarity which was a shame because I really thought this was going to be the best of the Land of the Blind graphic novel by a clear margin. Overall though, it was still decent but it could have been great!

Rating: 7/10